Kīlauea Update, Wednesday, August 15, 2018. Required Reading from USGS HVO

Time just zips right along.  Summer.  Hot days, and, up here, cool nights.  And itʻs been dry.  Not too helpful if one is trying to mop-up a fire.  The Keauhou Fire, last I heard, had burned 3,700+ acres, and was nearly 90% contained, thanks to hard-working fire crews.  We applaud their efforts!

According to my method of counting, weʻre 11 days into a Pause of the Works of Pele.  Not long at all, considering the life and landscape altering events of the last three and a half (3.5) months.  Iʻm hoping that this doesnʻt turn into a "How quickly we forget" scenario, wherein we think we can kinda all go back to life as it was.  Of course we canʻt, but the feeling seems to be that we want to and should, perhaps.  Go back to Normal.  Regulars.

Please read, carefully and thoughtfully, what our friends at USGS HVO assembled for us:

HVO Status Update, August 14, 2018, 931a

At the Update page, you may have to scroll down to get to this particular one.  The information and cautions posted are completely relevant and timely. Please pay close attention to what our friends are telling us.

As I said yesterday, given the catastrophic changes weʻve witnessed in three and a half months, we need to take a break when we can, and think about and assess our collective priorities.  Weʻve been in the midst of, in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, a hulihia, a period when things and life are "overturned; a complete change, overthrow; turned upside down."

Hulihia are neither good or bad, they just are...The key is how we react to them.  We can either pick up where we left off and proceed with life as "normal"... or... See if there are lessons to be learned from our experiences.  I certainly hope the latter happens.  I hope.

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park will be holding Talk Story sessions, tomorrow and Friday, then again next week.  The Schedule:

Talk Story: Hawaiʻi Volcanoes

I firmly believe that now is the time to think outside of The Box.  To envision how we can all allow the Park, Puna ma kai, and our world, to become better places.  To imagine how to honor, respect, and best treat our resources, rather than exploit them.  To finally place Place at the top of the list.  To recognize that as much as we like to think that we are, We Are Not In Charge.

Whoever or Whatever you believe in, now is the time to be Thought Full.  Full of Thought.  Itʻs not about us.  Itʻs about our ʻāinaalohaʻāina.  ʻĀina = land or earth; that which feeds us.  Aloha = Aloha, affection, etc etc etc...  

ʻĀinaalohaʻāina:  The lands that we hold dear and the affection that we have for those lands.

Below, the Flow Map from HVO.  Itʻll be the last for the time being.  Pele is likely still oozing in places.

 And the tilting continues, both up and down.  These graphs help with the visualization of internal processes and outcomes.

At Puna ma kai:

And here at the summit:

What it all means, again, remains to be seen.

A topic to mull, consider, and wonder about...  There will likely be many of those in coming days and months...

I read in the paper, the Hawaiʻi Tribune-Herald, that the County is considering Keonepoko as a place of resettlement, housing, farming, etc., spending $30 million dollars for infrastructure there. 

$680 Million Recovery "Plan"

Question:  Why?

Are our memories so short that some have forgotten the Event of 2014, when pele reached the immediate vicinity of Pāhoa?  Bad enough when a Shopping Center was approved shortly after that.  Why?

The ahupuaʻa of Keonepoko is located between the subdivisions of Hawaiian Paradise Park and Hawaiian Beaches.  Vacant land, apparently.

If we look closely at the Flow Map above, we might learn that pele in 2014 might have followed a "Path of Steepest Descent" to Keonepoko. 

Also, Keonepoko seems to be in Lava Hazard Zone 2.  

I am left to wonder, Why?  Why there?  Are we not able to learn from past mistakes?  $30 million and more dollars?  Money, no matter which government it comes from, Federal, State, or County, is OUR money.  Taxpayer money.  Itʻs not free, it doesnʻt grow on trees or fall from the sky.  WE pay.  Cʻmon people, THINK!!!

We could all use some time to think and to plan.  With input from a variety of individuals who possess different knowledge sets, government employees or not, together we can be smart and learn and imagine The Future together.

As always, with aloha,

BobbyC
maniniowali@gmail.com